


strange little bits of a melody

by HyperchaoticStarlight (MVPYurio)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Band Fic, Eventual Romance, Fluff, Guitarist Tony Stark, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Loki & Tony Stark Friendship, Loki (Marvel) Has A Heart, Multi, Musicians, Mutual Pining, Odin (Marvel)'s A+ Parenting, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pianist Loki (Marvel), Pietro and Wanda run a blog, Precious Peter Parker, Swearing, Tony Stark Has A Heart, why is that not a tag?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-10-08 16:23:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17389697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MVPYurio/pseuds/HyperchaoticStarlight
Summary: Tony and Loki have been best friends all their lives and have been playing music together for years. Tired of being known only for their parents, in high school, they formed a band, Frostiron. Now they're in their junior year of college, and with a new manager, increased coverage on a local blog, and plans for new releases on the horizon, this is sure to be Frostiron's best year yet. But as they look forward to the future, they also have to face the truth about their feelings for one another and the pressure of trying to escape one spotlight and stand in another.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [whichlights](https://archiveofourown.org/users/whichlights/gifts), [AoifeLaufeyson](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AoifeLaufeyson/gifts), [TrickIsTrash](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrickIsTrash/gifts), [Aerugonian](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aerugonian/gifts), [Faustess](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faustess/gifts).



> *John Mulaney voice* This might as well happen...
> 
> This was inspired by an awesome performance I saw at a First Night celebration this past NYE, of two guys, a pianist and a guitarist. I was honestly spellbound by how dynamic and beautiful they sounded with only two instruments, so I just had to do it.
> 
> I have an amazing beta team helping me out with this fic, so huge thanks to genderfluid-loki/whichlights, AoifeLaufeyson, hulksmashin-bannerpackin/TrickIsTrash, Aerugonian, and psychiccatpanda/Faustess! Y'all are amazing and I love and appreciate you so much! I'll be crediting the individual betas who help me with each chapter.
> 
> Oh and yes, there is an in-world explanation for the band name. You'll find out in chapter 4. Patience, folks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thank you to AoifeLaufeyson, Aerugonian, and psychiccatpanda/Faustess for betareading this chapter for me!

**maximusic: your home for new york city's sound**

Frostiron Releases New EP: BRIGHT LURES

_Posted by WandaMax, 9/7/19 @ 8:37 AM_

It’s finally here! After MONTHS of anticipation, Frostiron has finally released their new EP, BRIGHT LURES! Since its release at midnight, _Bright Lures_ has been downloaded off of Frostiron’s official Bandcamp over 10,000 times and counting.

Frostiron released its first album, _Tesseract_ , in 2016, but the dynamic duo has been playing music together for over a decade. They’re known for their unique, jazzy sound, their ability to create complexity and depth with only two instruments, and of course, their commitment to what guitarist Tony Stark calls a “No Money, Just Music operation.” All of Frostiron’s music is available on their Bandcamp for free.

Stark and his bandmate, pianist Loki Andersen, have done their best to make Frostiron the most important part of their public image, although that hasn’t been easy. Both musicians spent their childhoods in the spotlight thanks to their parents: genius tech billionaire Howard Stark and State Senator Odin Andersen. That being said, Tony and Loki have done a magnificent job so far creating a reputation of their own.

We have yet to listen to _Bright Lures_ all the way through—here at Maximusic, we don’t listen until we’ve had our coffee!—but we’re sure it’s going to be just as great as everything else Frostiron has put out so far.

As always, stay _tuned_ for more!

***

 _Tagged with: #Frostiron_ • _#New Releases_ • _#EP_ • _#Bright Lures_ • _#Tony Stark_ • _#Loki Andersen_ • _#2019_ • _#September_

\---

“Damn, seriously? Ten thousand and counting?” Tony leaned over Loki’s shoulder to stare at their phone.

Loki rolled his eyes. “Let me get out my laptop, and I can check.”

“Or here’s a thought—you both could eat, and _then_ check, and the number would be even higher.”

Tony and Loki looked up to see that Rhodey was putting his tray down in front of them.

 _“Honeybear,”_ Tony sighed, reaching across the table to put a hand on Rhodey’s shoulder. “You’ve known us for three years. Have we ever put our own well-being over the band?”

“Not even once,” said Rhodey, “but that’s not a good thing.”

Tony nodded, but his attention was somewhere else. “I think that’s Nat and Bruce over there.”

“Oh, yeah, there they are,” said Loki. He got up and waved, trying to grab their attention.

“I was just looking for you,” Natasha said in lieu of a hello. She sat down across from Tony. Bruce sat down next to her. “I just saw my cousins’ blog post. Ten thousand downloads—that’s awesome!”

“Yeah, congrats,” said Bruce. “Isn’t that a new record?”

Tony nodded eagerly. “Oh, way beyond a new record—wait, your cousins?”

“You didn’t know?” Natasha asked, almost incredulously. “Maximusic is run by my two little cousins, Pietro and Wanda.”

“I knew that,” said Loki. He poked Tony in the side. “Leave it to you to be completely clueless.”

“Hey!” Tony scowled, but seconds later he was smiling. “C’mon, Lokes, get out your laptop. I wanna see our stats.”

“Will telling you to eat first have even the slightest impact?” Rhodey asked.

Tony and Loki looked at each other and grinned identical grins. “Nope.”

Rhodey rolled his eyes. “Why do I even bother?”

“Hey, Lokes, are we still having a release party?” Tony asked.

“That’s the plan. 7:00, in that room we all used to study in and eat cupcakes as freshmen.”

“Sorry,” said Natasha. “Phil is having a movie night for our floor at the same time, and I promised Clint and Maria I’d go.”

“You’re no fun, Nat,” Tony whined. “But y’know who’s the _least_ fun?”

 _“Steve Rogers,”_ everyone chorused in simultaneous exasperation. At least two people rolled their eyes. They’d all heard this before.

 _“Yes!”_ Tony exclaimed. “I can’t believe he’s my RA _again!_ He’s the _worst!_ He should change his name to Captain Snoozeville—oh, you’re all making fun of me.”

Loki patted Tony’s shoulder. “It’s alright, Tony. Ignorance is bliss.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Tony muttered.

Tony couldn’t exactly remember the day he met Loki, but it didn’t matter, really. What mattered were the fifteen-or-so years _after_ they’d met, of being best friends, of incessant mutual teasing, of chasing each other through sprinklers and down the street, of throwing snowballs at each other until their ears turned red, of procrastinating on homework, of pizza and movies way past their bedtimes, of Loki helping Tony build gadgets, of Tony helping Loki prank his brother and literally everyone else.

And of course, music had been part of their lives for most of those years. These days, it was almost all they did together—arrange, practice, and record their music. There was little Tony loved more than the sound of Loki aimlessly improvising on the piano, and there was little Loki loved more than the sound of Tony doing the same on his beloved electric guitar—the one he’d built himself in his basement.

“Penny for your thoughts, Tony?”

Tony blinked a few times. “Oh—just thinking.” He turned towards Loki, who was staring at him with a mix of curiosity and concern. “I’m fine, Lokes.”

“If you’re sure.”

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

Loki’s concerned expression turned into a smile. “Well, in that case, I think we should listen to Rhodey’s advice and eat.”

“Oh, thank God, one of you is finally seeing sense,” Rhodey said relievedly. “Go eat. Please. For the sake of my sanity.”

~~~~

Surprisingly, quite a few people came to the release party—mostly music majors who had been trying and failing to recruit Tony and Loki into their acts for years, plus Rhodey and Bruce and a few of their other friends. Even Steve Rogers made an appearance, his boyfriend of forever, Bucky Barnes, in tow.

“Do I have to pretend to be nice to him?” Tony whispered in Loki’s ear.

Loki smirked. “Not if you don’t want to. It’s our party, after all. But don’t bother Barnes too much. He’s actually quite a fan of our music. I have a sneaking suspicion that it was his idea to come.”

Sure enough, a few moments later, Bucky came up to them, Steve just behind him.

“Can’t believe this is the first time you’ve had a release party,” Bucky said in lieu of a hello—something Tony quite liked; formalities were overrated. “I stayed up until midnight so I could download the EP as soon as it went live. It’s definitely your best one yet.”

“Thanks,” said Tony. “I see you’ve managed to drag Rogers along with you.”

“Maybe I just wanted to congratulate one of my residents,” said Steve.

“No, I definitely dragged him,” said Bucky. Tony couldn’t help but laugh. “Steve has the music taste of your average twelve-year-old girl.”

“Ariana Grande is not just for twelve-year-old girls,” Steve protested.

“Oh, not at all,” said Loki. Steve smiled in satisfaction, but Tony knew better. “Eleven-year-old girls also like her quite a bit. Now, to quote every eight-year-old girl’s favorite singer: Thank you, next.”

“Have I ever mentioned that you’re my favorite person?” Tony asked as Loki led him to the snack table.

“Repeatedly,” Loki replied. “My brother also has a fondness for Ariana Grande. Every time I’m home, he blasts it in the shower or in his room. If I have to suffer through it, I can at least put it to some good.”

“I doubt that you just ‘suffer through it’ at home, Lokes,” said Tony. “Go on, tell me.”

Loki grinned mischievously. “I may have sent him an email claiming he’d won free tickets to an Ariana Grande concert… twice. And possibly created a very convincing fake Ariana Grande Twitter account and followed him with it.”

“And he fell for all that?” Tony asked, almost incredulously.

“Every single time, without fail.”

“I’ll never get tired of watching you successfully prank people,” Tony proclaimed. “That shit’s gonna entertain me ‘til I die.”

“I’d better keep coming up with new material, then,” said Loki. “Just be careful, or I might prank you.”

“What, like the time you replaced my deodorant with cream cheese?” Tony asked. “Or the time you switched around all of my guitar strings so I couldn’t tune them properly? Or the time you put an entire roll of toilet paper in my washing machine?”

“How about the time I went around my father’s office and collected everyone’s paper shreds, put them in a garbage bag, and deposited them in your room?”

“Oh, God, that was the worst,” Tony groaned. “I had paper shreds in my bed for _weeks_ after that.”

“Glad to be of service,” said Loki. He had been looking right at Tony, but then he noticed something behind him. “Oh, shit.”

“What?”

“Music majors, five o’clock.”

“Crap. Let’s get out of here.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look, another chapter! I think I'm gonna try and post about once a week.
> 
> Huge thank you to psychiccatpanda/Faustess, Aerugonian, AoifeLaufeyson, and genderfluid-loki/whichlights for beta'ing this chapter.

“Uggghhhh, double majoring is the worst.”

Tony flopped back onto his bed, all but throwing his brand-new copy of _Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach_ across the room. “Why did I decide to do this again?”

“Because you’re an overachiever,” Loki replied, not looking up from his chemistry textbook, “and also completely insane.”

“Y’know what, that’s basically it.”

Despite the fact that Loki was not Tony’s roommate, the amount of time he spent in Tony’s room made it seem as though he was. Hell, he probably spent more time in Tony’s room than Rhodey did, although that was mainly because ROTC took up an absurd amount of Rhodey’s time. Being in each other’s rooms was just _familiar_ to the two of them—after all, they’d been doing it since elementary school.

“Well, we’ve got something to look forward to tonight,” Loki pointed out. “Our first show at Ben’s for the semester.”

That got Tony to smile. “Oh, that’ll be great. May wants us coming in three nights a week now, right?”

“Yes, her Tuesday performers moved out of state, so now she wants us on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. And rumor has it that her Friday performers may be cutting back, so we might start getting Friday nights.”

“That’d be awesome,” said Tony. “I’d kill for Friday nights.”

Ben’s was a local restaurant, only about a mile from campus, known for its nightly live music and friendly owner, May Parker. Like any reasonable human, May had been over the moon when she found out that Tony and Loki were willing to play at restaurants for free, and the kind of music they liked to play was perfect for a restaurant, especially on quieter nights. They’d been playing at Ben’s for the last year and a half or so, and the restaurant’s patrons were some of their favorite listeners.

“She sent us an email this morning, confirming that we’d be coming in,” said Loki. “Apparently, her nephew has not stopped playing _Bright Lures_ since it went up on Bandcamp.”

“Looks like we’ve got ourselves a set list, then,” said Tony. “Is it just me, or are you also shocked at how well _Bright Lures_ has been doing?”

“I am a little surprised, actually,” said Loki. “Our albums have always done much better than our EPs, and I certainly don’t think that this one was particularly special in compared to our other ones.”

“Maybe we just have more fans than we did last time,” Tony mused. “Who knows. But hey, as long as people still love our music…”

“That, they most definitely do,” said Loki. “Come on, Tony. You’ll feel much better playing at Ben’s if you’ve gotten some of your work done.”

“You know me too damn well, Lokes.”

~~~~

“Tony, Loki, I’m so glad you could make it.”

“Always a pleasure, May.” Tony tried to shake May’s hand, but she pulled him into a hug instead.

“Do you need any help setting up?” she asked as she led them to the stage. “I had two of the guys bring the piano already…”

“Thank you so much, and in that case, we’ll be fine,” said Loki. “If I don’t have to haul out the piano, Tony and I can set the rest up together.”

There was a young boy sitting on the stage when they got there. “Peter, I told you not to sit up there,” May chastised.

“Wade said I wasn’t in the way,” the boy—Peter—protested.

“Who’s this?” Tony asked.

“This is my nephew, Peter,” said May.

“Would this happen to be the nephew who’s been listening to _Bright Lures_ nonstop?” Tony asked.

“Yes!” Peter said excitedly. “I absolutely love it! _Aether_ is my favorite, though.”

“You’re the first person to say that,” said Loki. “I know a few of the individual tracks on there were quite popular, but not the album as a whole.”

“It’s totally underrated,” Peter declared. “Hey, quick question—can I take pictures of you during your show? Aunt May is letting me run an Instagram account for the restaurant, and so I’ve been trying to post pictures of all the performers.”

“Sure!” Tony said brightly. “Do you know our Instagram?”

“Of course! Want me to tag it?”

“Please. If you want to tag us in the pictures as well, that’s fine—our personal ones, though, not the ‘official’ ones.”

“Those are the ones your parents’ staff runs, right? I don’t even follow those.”

“Don’t. They’re horrible,” Loki interjected.

“Gotcha,” said Peter.

“I’m excited to see your pictures,” said Tony, “but now I have to ask that you clear the stage, so Loki and I can set up.”

“Okay! It was really nice to meet you!” With that, Peter hopped off the stage and wandered somewhere else.

“You’ve just made his week,” said May. “He loves taking pictures and he loves your music even more.”

“Well, making a kid’s week is always a good thing,” said Tony. “Alright, Lokes, let’s set up.”

~~~~

“Alright, let’s take a break,” Tony said quietly. They’d been playing for the last two and a half hours straight, and he was getting both tired and hungry.

Loki nodded and stood up, pushing his piano bench in. “I’ll go catch May and see if we can get some dinner.”

“Excuse me?”

Tony looked down to see a redheaded waitress was at the foot of the stage.

“My name’s Pepper. I’m a new waitress, and a customer asked me about you guys.”

Tony hopped off of the stage. “Nice to meet you, Pepper. I’m Tony, and that’s Loki. Our band is called Frostiron.”

Pepper narrowed her eyes. “You’re Tony Stark, aren’t you? And your bandmate is Loki Andersen.”

Tony sighed. One of his and Loki’s favorite part about playing at Ben’s was that they could escape being known as the sons of two of the most prominent figures in New York and just be musicians. People either didn’t know or didn’t care about their parents, and they loved it that way. Part of him wished he could lie, but Pepper was looking at him with piercing blue eyes that already knew the truth. Ah well. “Yes, we are, but if you don’t mind, I’d rather that not be included in your report to your customers. It’s not a secret or anything, but we try not to advertise it.”

“Gotcha,” said Pepper, and wasn’t that just the biggest relief. “Wow, if you’re keeping that on the DL, that must give your manager a run for their money.”

Tony laughed. “We don’t have a band manager.”

“You don’t?”

“We don’t charge anything for our music or our shows,” Tony explained, “so we wouldn’t be able to pay for one.”

“You don’t charge anything? Why?”

Tony shrugged. “It’s not like we need the money. We just like playing music together and sharing what we play.”

“Huh,” said Pepper. “I have to get back to work, but can I catch you guys later? You guys sound great, and I’d love to learn more.”

“Sure,” said Tony. “We’re here until closing.”

“So am I,” said Pepper. “I’ll talk to you later.”

~~~~

As it turned out, Pepper was also a student at their school and lived in Loki’s dorm building. They ended up going back to campus together, exchanging stories all the way.

“Wait, Tony, I don’t think you told me,” said Pepper. “Who’s your RA?”

“Steve Rogers,” Tony said. Pepper laughed. “What?”

“I don’t know him too well, but from what my RA tells me, I can only imagine you don’t get along.”

“That’s an understatement,” said Loki. “Whoever decided to put Tony Stark with the world’s biggest rule-follower _twice in a row…_ I pity them both, honestly.”

“Pity me more,” said Tony. “He’s got authority over me.”

“Your father is the richest man in New York,” Pepper pointed out.

“He’s also the biggest douchebag… y’know what, now I’m seeing it. Maybe I should go easy on the guy.”

“Holy shit,” said Loki. “We’ve been trying to get Tony to ‘go easy’ on Rogers for a year, and you’re the first person to get through to him.”

“Okay, be fair,” said Tony. “Rhodey, Bruce, and Nat have been trying. If _you_ cared, maybe I’d listen, but part of why I like you is that you don’t give a shit.”

“He’s not wrong,” said Loki.

Pepper was quiet for a few moments, but then she asked, “Is it true you don’t have a band manager?”

“Like I said, we can’t pay for one,” said Tony. “And we’re not gonna start charging just so we can pay a manager.”

“What if you didn’t have to pay?”

“Pfft,” Loki snorted, sharing a knowing look with Tony. “As if anyone would _volunteer_ to manage _us._ We’re the epitome of a disorganized shitshow.”

“I’m a business major, and I’m trying to do some field work this year so I can lighten my load,” said Pepper. “I have a feeling the university would be more likely to give me credit if I weren’t getting paid. Besides, if you’re as disorganized as you say, it’ll be great experience.”

“Well, you are the first person to successfully convince Tony to not be a pain in someone’s ass,” said Loki. “That makes you A, practically a goddess, and B, the only viable option.”

“I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself a goddess,” said Pepper. “Let me talk to the department, and if they say I can manage your band for credit, I’m in.”

“Sounds good,” said Tony. “In the meantime, I’m gonna check Instagram. I wanna see how those pictures May’s nephew took came out.”

**Instagram**

**bens_restaurant_nyc** : Ben’s is excited to have **@frostironmusic** back to play on our stage! They’ll be here on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday evenings—stop by to hear them play!

 

> **wanda.max** : Frostiron plays at Ben’s? How did I not know this? **@pietro.max** we’ll have to stop by ASAP!
> 
> **frostironmusic** : Wow, awesome pictures! Can we use one of these for our profile picture?
> 
> **bens_restaurant_nyc** : Yes! PC **@peterparkerpix**

 

“Well, that’ll excite him to no end,” said Loki. “If May calls and says he’s fainted or something, I’m blaming you.”

Tony laughed. “Well, she’ll have to direct those complaints to our manager.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey friends, sorry I took awhile to post this'un—I've been trying to get over a cold. Hope that this chapter is worth the wait. The mutual pining is gonna kick off here...
> 
> In other news, I would really appreciate if y'all could help spread this piece around a little? It hasn't gotten a lot of traction/mileage and I really would love more people to see this little AU of mine. And if you're already here, please do leave a comment. It really does help me have the inspiration to write.
> 
> Finally, huge thanks to psychiccatpanda/Faustess and genderfluid-loki/whichlights for beta'ing this fella.

“Thanks so much for doing this, Pepper.”

It had been about a week and a half since Tony and Loki had met Pepper, and now they were having their first meeting with her as their manager. Pepper had insisted that they not meet in the practice room or any of the common rooms in the dorm buildings, explaining to a dismayed Tony that she needed an actual table and chairs. (“And no, we can’t _just go to a café;_ those tables aren’t big enough. Tony, _please._ Let’s just use your cupcake room.”)

“No problem, Tony,” Pepper replied, pushing a box of cupcakes aside (it was the only way she could get Tony to agree to the cupcake room suggestion). “Okay, so let’s start off with the basic stuff. What do you need from me to be your manager?”

“Well, keep using your mystical powers to keep Tony in line, for one,” Loki joked. “But beyond that, it would be really great to have someone keep track of our emails, work out when we can get to our recording studio, help us schedule our live shows… really, all of the logistical stuff, so Tony and I can focus on the music itself.”

“Except our social media,” Tony interjected. “We have a blog on our website and also run some social media accounts, and I think we can probably handle those on our own.”

“Well, if you need me to take those on, I can definitely help.” Pepper folded her hands on the table and leaned forward slightly. “So what are your plans for your next release?”

“There are a few pieces that we’ve written that didn’t fit into the aesthetic we wanted for _Bright Lures,_ but we still want to release,” said Loki. “We actually have a bunch of pieces like that, that either we didn’t finish or that we finished but didn’t include on our previous releases.”

“Could those become an EP?” Pepper asked.

Tony thought for a few moments. “Honestly, there are so many of those that if we came up with two or three new pieces, they could be an album. All of our other releases have had a really cohesive aesthetic, but it might be cool to have an album that’s a little more varied and combines different elements of our style.”

Pepper nodded, slowly, contemplatively. “Around when do you think you could have that album ready?”

“Probably sometime in the summer,” Loki replied. “But since we only have to write two or three new pieces, and we have you now to help with promotion and organization and things, I feel like we could maybe squeeze one more EP in before we release the album.”

Tony immediately turned to Loki, shaking his head. “Oh, Lokes, I’m not sure about that. I like the ambition, but another EP?”

Meanwhile, Pepper had her laptop out and was looking at something.

“Whatcha looking at?” Tony asked.

“When you gave me the login to your email and Bandcamp, I started looking at some of the comments and fan mail you’d received and took some notes,” Pepper explained.

“And? Anything enlightening?”

“Actually, yeah.” Pepper turned her computer around to show a document full of notes that made Tony’s eyes hurt. “I’ve seen a ton of comments asking for a holiday release, but I don’t see one on your Bandcamp page.”

“Yeah, we’ve never done a holiday release,” said Loki.

Pepper blinked a few times. “Seriously? You’ve been getting requests for a holiday release starting in mid-October for the last two years running.”

“We read our comments and try to reply to them, but we’ve never properly… analyzed them, I guess,” Tony explained. “I don’t think I even realized how often people were asking for a holiday release.”

Pepper muttered something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like _of course you didn’t._

“Maybe that could be an EP,” Loki mused. “Since we’d be arranging preexisting holiday songs as opposed to composing entirely new material, I bet we could take four or five songs and make it an EP.”

Tony shook his head again. “I think you’re nuts. We’ve barely gotten into the semester. We have no idea what our workload will look like.”

“Okay, I’ll make you a deal.” Loki cracked a smile, the one that usually meant he was up to no good. “We’ll plan on a five-track EP. If we don’t have two done and a third in the works by the end of October, we ditch the project.”

Tony sighed. “Alright, but you have to do the leg work here. My course load this semester is a goddamn nightmare.”

“Luckily for you, my semester is looking a bit lighter,” said Loki. “I can definitely take the lead, although you know I haven’t the faintest clue how to arrange guitar parts.”

“Yeah, I know,” said Tony. “If you give me the melody on most of them, I can take it from there. Still don’t think we’ll have the time, though.”

“Maybe you could cut back on live shows,” Pepper suggested. “I know you have a regular gig at Ben’s, but you also do live shows elsewhere.” Immediately, Tony began to protest, but Pepper cut him off. “Tony, this will be good for you. Holiday releases tend to do really well.”

“Exactly!” Loki’s eyes sparkled. “Who doesn’t like Christmas music?”

“Hey, hang on.” Tony held a hand up. “If we’re gonna do this, I wanna see if we can get any Hanukkah songs on there. We know some Jewish people who could help us—Bruce is Jewish, May is Jewish… what?” He pointed at Loki’s face, which was breaking into a smile. “What’s that look for?”

“I knew it wouldn’t take you long to become invested in the idea,” said Loki, eyes glinting as the smile turned into a smirk. “You could never resist a challenge.”

 _No,_ Tony thought to himself. _I could never resist_ **_you_ ** _._

It took until their freshman year of college for Tony to realize that his feelings for Loki weren’t those of a typical friend—probably because until then, he hadn’t had any other typical friends. From kindergarten to twelfth grade, Tony had been surrounded by people who wanted everything from him besides friendship—money, favors, test answers, sex. And he had obliged, because he didn’t want to be known as Tony Stark the miniature asshole, but in the end, he would always return to Loki, who had spent those years existing quietly in his older brother’s shadow. Loki never was interested in having many friends, preferring to keep to his studies, but wherever he curled up to read, there was always space for Tony to sit with him.

But then they got to college, and they met Rhodey and Bruce and Natasha, and it was then that Tony learned what it meant to love someone platonically—and, consequently, he realized that his feelings for Loki weren’t platonic at all.

Tony hadn’t expected his affection for Loki to exist so _quietly._ Being the son of Howard Stark meant that everything in his life was loud and flashy and over-the-top, and he had always experienced emotions just as vividly. He had assumed that when he first fell in love, it would be explosions and roaring flames, like the nights he’d spent with the cheerleaders in high school but infinitely stronger.

His feelings for Loki were like a candle, nestled somewhere deep inside Tony, persistently warming and illuminating its hiding place and refusing to go out no matter how many times he had tried to extinguish it, until eventually even Tony Stark’s will was broken and he allowed it to burn, admitting that its existence was no longer indefinite, but eternal.

“Tony?”

Tony blinked. “Yeah?”

“You were looking at me funny,” said Loki. “Are you okay?”

 _Shit._ “Oh—yeah, yeah, I’m fine.”

He crossed his fingers mentally, hoping he wasn’t doing anything stupid like blushing. The minute he realized he was in love with Loki, he had vowed to keep it a secret forever.

After all, there was no way that Loki would ever love him back.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks to psychiccatpanda/Faustess and witchlightsands/whichlights for beta-ing! Hope y'all enjoy!

Loki had won, of course.

Well, “won” wasn’t quite the word to use, but it sure as shit _felt_ like he had, given the goddamn _smirk_ on his face. Son of a bitch.

“Well, I believe we had a bargain,” he said, stretching lazily on the sofa and scrolling through the sheets for the half-completed third track on his tablet. “Second track completed, a third in the works, and… Tony, would you remind me of the date?”

“Asshole,” Tony muttered. “October 23rd. You were right.”

“You act as if you weren’t excited to start work on this track a mere three hours ago.” Loki put the tablet down on the table and pulled his legs in so Tony could join him on the sofa. “Admit it, Tony; you’re enjoying this new EP as much as I am.”

“Never said I wasn’t,” Tony retorted. “But you’re a smug asshole and I have no idea why I put up with you.”

“No idea _why,_ Tony? Or is it that you have no idea _how_ you put up with me?”

And damn it if that wasn’t the truth. Sometimes, when he made comments like that that were _so spot-fucking-on,_ Tony wondered if Loki knew the truth.

He pushed the wonder—the worry—aside. They knew each other inside and out. That had to be it.

~~~~

**maximusic: your home for new york city’s sound**

EXCLUSIVE: Frostiron Tells All About Holiday EP

_Posted by PietroMax, 11/5/19 @ 5:29 PM_

It’s not often that this blog gets noticed by the artists we talk about. Despite being 20 years old, we here at Maximusic have the social media skills of your average octogenarian, so our posts don’t usually circulate too far outside of our followers—which means you can only imagine our excitement when we found out that Loki Andersen and Tony Stark, better known as Frostiron, were interested in giving us an exclusive interview about their upcoming EP!

We’ve been following Frostiron since the release of their first album, _Tesseract,_ in 2016. Check out our Frostiron tag to learn more, but for now, on to the interview!

 **Pietro Maximoff:** So, Tony, Loki, I know this is supposed to be an interview about your new EP, but while you’re here I can’t help but ask, how did you get started?

 **Tony Stark:** Well, first off, thanks for having us. We don’t do interviews too often—

 **Loki Andersen:** Well, we do, but because of our fathers, not our music.

 **TS:** Okay, fair enough. But that makes this interview so refreshing. Anyway, how we got started. Any tabloid will tell you that Loki and I grew up together because our parents were really tight.

 **LA:** Our mothers, surprisingly; not our fathers.

 **TS:** For once. Well, usually those family friend things don’t work out, but something about us just really clicked. We must’ve been, what, five or six years old?

 **LA:** Something like that, yeah. I think we may have been in the same kindergarten class, even. But anyway, it all started when we were ten. I had just started taking piano lessons and I hated them.

 **PM:** Seriously? You hated the piano at first? What changed?

 **LA:** Well, that’s the thing, because as cliché as it sounds, it genuinely was Tony. Get this—he built his own electric guitar and started teaching himself how to play it, so I wouldn’t have to practice by myself.

 **PM:** Now that’s one hell of a friendship.

 **TS:** We didn’t consider ourselves a band right away, but we definitely had a ton of fun playing music together as kids. And at first we were just sort of practicing side by side; it wasn’t really a collaboration, but then we actually started getting pretty good at playing our instruments, and we started properly collaborating to play covers of songs we liked. That was probably around eighth or ninth grade.

 **PM:** So when did you start considering yourselves a band?

 **LA:** We were juniors in high school, and we’d been doing covers for a few years, but then we started working on our own original stuff. I remember we tested out our first-ever original on my brother and his girlfriend, and Jane was the one who told us to record it and start a band.

 **TS:** I totally forgot that it was Jane who suggested it. Shout-out to her, bigtime. They’re still together, by the way.

 **PM:** And where did the name come from?

 **TS:** It’s a funny story, actually. My dad always told me this thing as a kid, “Stark men are made of iron,” and I told Loki this once when we were like fourteen or fifteen and he just looked me in the face and deadpanned _Bullshit,_ and we must’ve laughed over that for at least thirty minutes. And ever since then, he would call me Iron Man—or Man of Iron, if he was in one of those pretentious bitch moods—

 **LA:** I resent that title.

 **TS:** Noted. As for the “frost” part, around the same time that we were considering starting a band, _Frozen_ came out, and I don’t remember how we ended up watching it but I spent the next three weeks calling Loki every possible variation on and reference to “Elsa.”

 **LA:** I resented all of those titles as well.

 **TS:** And you still do, and I still don’t care, _Ice Queen._ Anyway, we were in my room, trying to come up with a band name, and we were ribbing each other because that’s what we do, and he called me Iron Man and I called him Frosty the Snowman, and then it hit us at the same time.

 **PM:** That’s awesome. It sounds like most of this band originated with a really strong friendship.

 **LA:** Oh, absolutely. This band _is_ our friendship. Everything about it that matters comes from the fact that we love to be together and play music together.

 **PM:** Let’s move on. Tell us about this EP! It’s gonna be holiday-themed, right?

 **LA:** It is going to be holiday themed. We’ve been getting fan comments asking if we’d ever do a holiday album or EP for a while, but we didn’t really have any interest in making one until after _Bright Lures_ came out.

 **TS:** Honestly, Pepper got us to do it. We hired her as our band manager just after we released _Bright Lures,_ and she was kinda shocked that we had yet to release anything holiday themed, especially once she started reading all those fan comments, and we were both basically like… yeah, you’re right; let’s do that.

 **LA:** Lies, Tony. You were reluctant. I had to convince you.

 **TS:** For good reason! I was worried that we wouldn’t be able to release another EP so quickly and keep up with our schoolwork!

 **PM:** A disagreement, huh? Did it cause much drama?

 **LA:** None whatsoever. I proposed that if we couldn’t finish two tracks and start on a third by the end of October, we’d drop the project, and Tony agreed to the bargain so quickly that even Pepper couldn’t offer her input.

 **PM:** Glad it didn’t cause much tension. So, what can fans expect from this new EP?

 **TS:** Well, it’s going to have five tracks on it. We decided that we’re going to go the route of some more traditional Christmas carols, ones that don’t really have a lot of jazz to them—

 **LA:** And also are in the public domain.

 **TS:** Yeah, that’s a big one too. And then we’re also going to do a medley of a few traditional Hannukah songs—one of our good friends helped us with that.

 **PM:** Have you figured out a name for the EP?

 **TS:** We have… but we’re not going to tell you. Gotta keep some secrets.

And keep secrets they did—even when we promised them that the interview was over and their comments were off the record, they refused to tell us the title of their EP. Guess we’ll just have to wait until they tell us.

It really was so great to have Tony and Loki here and to learn not only about their EP but also about the inner workings of their band. Clearly, these two are a dynamic duo inside and out!

Have a wonderful long weekend, folks, and as always, stay _tuned_ for more!

***

 _Tagged with: #Frostiron_ • _#New Releases_ • _#EP_ • _#Tony Stark_ • _#Loki Andersen_ • _#2019_ • _#November_ • _#Interview_

\---

“I just got about fifty texts from my cousins featuring your and Loki’s names and an absurd amount of screaming, even for them,” said Natasha as she sat next to Tony and put her plate down. “What did you do?”

Tony laughed. “We gave them an interview this afternoon.”

“Seriously? Well, that would do it.”

“Talking about our interview?” Loki sat down on Tony’s other side. He looked over at Tony’s plate. “That is absolutely not enough food. Go get more.”

“Who are you, Rhodey?” Tony rolled his eyes. “When he gets here and harasses me, I’ll get more food. But yes, we’re talking about the interview.”

“Wanda and Pietro are over the moon,” said Natasha. “The number of times they’ve told me I’m _so lucky to go to school with you_ is… astronomical.”

“Well, it was great to talk to them,” said Loki. “Pietro was the one who did the interview, and he asked us some great questions.”

“Wanda looked like she was going to fall out of her seat recording it, though,” said Tony. “We should put them against May’s nephew to see who our biggest fan is.”

“You know, I genuinely don’t know who would win,” Loki mused. “That would be funny to watch.”

“Oh, don’t do that,” Pepper interjected as she approached the table. “Peter’s such a sweet kid.”

“Hey, Pep,” Natasha said brightly. Apparently, Pepper and Natasha were in the same English 101 class as freshmen and were pretty good friends. Small world.

Pepper sat down across from Natasha. “Tony, that’s not enough food.”

“Good fucking grief. You’re all putting Rhodey out of a job.”

“As your manager, it’s my job to make sure you’re in good health.”

“Bullshit.”

“No, I’m pretty sure that’s part of being a manager,” Loki piped up. “Oh, look, it’s James.”

“Tony Stark, I swear to God,” Rhodey called from _fifty feet away,_ “if you don’t get more food, I’m gonna call my mama and have her come out here and _make_ you eat more.”

Tony’s face turned white and his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. “Okay! Okay, fine!” He put his hands up as he stood. “I get the message! I’m going!”

“The wrath of Mama Rhodes,” Rhodey said proudly, sitting down next to Pepper as Tony scurried away. “Works every time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I said I'd explain why the band is called Frostiron, right?


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey friends! Apologies for taking so long to update. I try to stay about two chapters ahead of myself each time I post, and Chapter 7 took a little longer to write.
> 
> Big thanks to whichlights/witchlightsands and Faustess/psychiccatpanda for beta-ing, and for the folks in the Frostiron server who volunteered to be cameos!
> 
> Oh, and warning: more pining ahead.

_ November 15th, 2019, 8:30 AM _

“Here, Pep, I made you a coffee.”

Naturally, the Frostiron website server just  _ had  _ to crash at noon yesterday, twelve hours before the scheduled midnight release of the title and cover art for the holiday EP, and worse still, they didn’t notice the crash for nearly six hours. Poor Pepper had stayed up all night on the phone with IT, managing to get the site back online with barely two hours to spare.

Pepper put down her fork and looked up at Tony with a tired smile. “Thanks, Tony. I’m just glad we met the deadline. I mean, it was only by a hair, but—”

“Stop,” Tony interrupted, sitting down next to her. “We made the deadline. Actually, I take that back.  _ You  _ made the deadline. When Loki noticed the crash, he and I both thought we were fucked, but you swept in like a goddamn eagle and saved our asses. I don’t know what either of us would have done without you.” He placed the cup of coffee down in front of Pepper. “Drink up. You’ll need your energy for your 9:30 class.”

Pepper took a sip of the coffee and immediately broke out into a smile. “This is  _ amazing, _ Tony. Where did you get this?”

“I know a guy who sells coffee, another guy who sells cream, the sugar’s from Target, and I made the machine myself.”

“… Okay, yeah, none of that surprises me.” Pepper took another sip and grinned again before putting it down. “Where’s yours?”

“Oh, I only do espresso shots. Usually in large quantities and rapid succession.”

“Should’ve figured. I take it your coffee machine does that as well?”

“Be a damn waste of space if it didn’t,” Tony replied. “I have yet to make one that can do all the shit Starbucks can, though.”

Pepper examined the cup—red paper with a yellow lid. “You didn’t nick these from the school. Where did these come from?”

“Amazon. Picked the colors out myself.”

“Huh. Never seen Rhodey or Loki with one of these.”

“Loki only drinks tea, which I have yet to comprehend,” Tony explained, “and Rhodey can’t tell the difference between my machine and a Keurig, so he’s just a lost cause.”

“Seriously? This is much better than a Keurig.”

Tony shrugged. “No idea why he doesn’t see the difference, but it doesn’t matter. More for me.”

“Hey, hang on.” Pepper narrowed her eyes. “You don’t have any food in front of you. Go get a plate and have breakfast like a healthy person.”

“Oh, for Christ’s sake,” Tony groaned, but moments later he was smiling as he stood up from the table. “You’re a treasure, Pepper. A goddamn treasure.”

~~~~

Loki was good at hiding in plain sight.

He had been teaching himself how to do so since childhood, since he realized that people didn’t care if they could see him. He had grown up in the shadows—in his father’s shadow, his brother’s shadow—and eventually, somewhere along the line, he had realized that if people weren’t interested in his presence, it would be to his advantage to learn how to truly become invisible—so he did.

And now here he was, in the dining hall, a plate of food in his hands. He had woken up to a flurry of texts from Tony and Pepper about the successful releases and had planned on sitting with them for breakfast to celebrate, but was now frozen in his tracks, completely unseen, watching as Tony gave Pepper a cup that looked just like the ones he stored in his room next to his homemade coffee machine. Pepper seemed to appreciate the gesture, and then the two began an eager conversation about  _ something.  _ Tony’s eyes seemed to grow brighter and brighter as the conversation went on, his face illuminated with a smile that Loki recognized from the practice room and virtually nowhere else. He watched as Pepper chastised Tony for not having any food—he’d recognize that expression and those hand gestures anywhere—and then he watched Tony stand up, and  _ finally,  _ he was able to hear what Tony was saying.

_ “You’re a treasure, Pepper. A goddamn treasure.” _

Of course. How had he missed it? Tony and Pepper had been thick as thieves ever since they met. Frankly, he should have realized how deeply Tony cared for her when he began eating and sleeping and studying every time she asked him to, without protest. Rhodey had been trying to keep Tony from self-destructing for three years to little avail, but Pepper had seemingly tamed him in six weeks.

As for Loki, who had never asked  _ anything  _ of Tony, who had ignored or even encouraged his tendencies since childhood, wanting nothing but to be wild and free and together… what did that make him? He couldn’t help but fear that despite being Tony’s closest friend for decades, he was no longer a good one. Tony had always deserved better… and now he had it. Now he was giving Pepper coffee and calling her a treasure.

Loki wished he could be jealous. He wished that he could fill himself up with the green-eyed monster and  _ rage  _ at what he saw before him, the way his older brother had over and over throughout their childhood despite having virtually nothing to envy. Part of him wanted those bright, genuine smiles that had once been  _ his  _ to return to the practice room and stay there forever, but a larger part of him knew that it was better this way. Tony was smiling  _ more  _ and that was enough.

Sometimes he wondered if Tony knew. Loki had spent the last seven years doing his best to hide his love just like he hid every other part of him, but Tony—brilliant, beautiful Tony—knew him so well that perhaps he had ascertained the truth long ago and was saying nothing on purpose, trying to protect Loki from the rejection that Tony knew would burn him from the inside out. Surely if he felt the same way (as if he ever would), he’d say something.

But perhaps he had no idea. Loki knew almost everything there was to know about Tony Stark, but whether or not he was perceptive enough to see through Loki’s mask, he had no idea.

The food on Loki’s plate was quickly growing cold. He hadn’t even noticed that Tony had sat back down next to Pepper and was talking with her again while they ate. This time, however, Tony seemed a little distracted, looking around the room for something.

Loki felt a vibration in his pocket. Shifting his plate to one hand, he pulled out his phone.

**[[Tony]]**

Loki, are you okay?   
Pepper and I have been texting you for over an hour

I’m fine. Why have you been texting?   
Is something wrong?

No! We just wanted you to eat with us and celebrate!   
People are going nuts over your cover art

I see.

Where are you, anyway? You’re usually in the dining room by now.

I’ll be there momentarily.

 

“Loki!” Tony beamed as Loki arrived at the table. “What happened? Where have you been?”

“I got held up,” Loki said quickly. “I’m fine.” He shot Pepper a pleading look, hoping that she would keep Tony from questioning him.

“Loki, the cover art looks even better on the website,” she said, giving Loki an imperceptible nod. “Everyone loves it.”

Tony slung an arm around Loki’s shoulder, concern seemingly forgotten. “Didn’t I say so? I told you that it was your best design yet.”

“Multiple times,” Loki said drily. He turned his head to see that Tony was giving him one of those smiles, the ones that made his breath catch in his chest. The ones he now had to share.

_ Treasure it,  _ he told himself.  _ Treasure that smile while you can still lay claim to it. _

It was all he had.

**Twitter**

**FROSTIRON** @frostironmusic • 13h   
Get ready! Our holiday EP  **#ReindeerGames** will be hitting Bandcamp at MIDNIGHT 12/14/19!

**SwitchKnitter** @switchknitter • 5h   
Super excited about  **@frostironmusic** ’s new EP!  **#ReindeerGames**

**Buying The Space Farm** @SpaceFarmBaby • 7h   
. **@frostironmusic** is releasing a new EP? Holiday season officially made.  **#ReindeerGames**

**Haarii The Quilava** @Wolfloner1990 • 9h   
anyone else think the **#reindeergames** cover art is amazing??  **@frostironmusic** does your cover artist have a patreon/ko-fi?

> **Kate Lewis** @salamanderink • 8h   
>  Replying to  **@Wolfloner1990**   
>  They do their own cover art,  **@LokiOnKeys** does all the designs
> 
> **Haarii The Quilava** @Wolfloner1990 • 3h   
>  Replying to  **@salamanderink**   
>  holy shit is this true?  **@frostironmusic @LokiOnKeys**
> 
> **FROSTIRON** @frostironmusic • 1h   
>  Replying to  **@Wolfloner1990**   
>  Yep!  **@LokiOnKeys** does all of our cover art.
> 
> **Haarii The Quilava** @Wolfloner1990 • 32m   
>  Replying to  **@frostironmusic**   
>  holy shit.  **@LokiOnKeys** you’re amazing!
> 
> **you know who i am** @sixstringtony • 8m   
>  Replying to  **@Wolfloner1990** **  
>  ** He sure is!

Tony smiled as he put his phone down. Loki and Pepper had both already left to go to their classes, but Tony didn’t have class for another hour and a half.

He liked the name of the EP. Loki, little shit that he was, had started coming up with ideas for the name as soon as Tony had taken up his “two tracks and a third in the works” bargain, and had even started sketching a few ideas for his favorites,  _ Reindeer Games _ being one of them.

Speaking of Loki, what the hell was up with this morning? No word from Loki and then he just… materialized in the dining hall, out of nowhere. Like he had been there the whole time. Tony knew Loki had a knack for turning invisible, but that had never applied to  _ him. _ For years and years, Loki had always let Tony see him, even when he was hiding from everyone else. What had changed?

Could he be losing Loki, after everything they’d done together?

Tony clenched his fist at the thought of it, on the edge of panic, or maybe tears. He couldn’t be. They were about to put an EP together, for fuck’s sake. Today was just an anomaly. Loki must have been in a bad mood about something—but then wouldn’t he have told Tony about it?

He could hear Rhodey’s voice in his head, telling him to  _ just fucking talk to him about it.  _ And usually, that’s how they resolved things. They told each other everything, even the things they kept from everyone else.  _ Especially _ the things they kept from everyone else.

_ Well, you’ve been keeping something from him for three years. How are you any better? _

And that really did sting. Part of Tony longed to tell Loki the truth, but he knew that if he did, it would be the end of their friendship. Loki was bi; he’d told Tony that when they were thirteen, probably because Tony had told him  _ he  _ was bi when they were eleven. But just because Loki liked guys didn’t mean that Loki liked  _ him.  _ And really, why would he? What did Tony have to offer that Loki couldn’t get from anyone else he wanted? It was completely impossible, and if Tony were to tell him, things would be so awkward that they would drift apart, and Tony would lose everything.

Sometimes, Tony imagined what it would be like to tell Loki and find out that Loki did love him back. He imagined them going out on dates and holding hands under the stars and kissing after long practice sessions. He imagined wrapping his arms around Loki and playing with his long, gorgeous hair until he fell asleep, and even the reverse, curling up in Loki’s arms and listening to him tell a story; Loki was always so good at stories—

No. No. He couldn’t start daydreaming again. The more he imagined being with Loki, the harder it became to exist in the world knowing that Loki would never be his. He was only tearing himself apart.

But the idea of whispering loving words into Loki’s ear and having Loki  _ return  _ them…

He stood up and brought his plate to the counter to be washed and left the dining room in complete silence, knowing he had work to do before his next class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, so almost all of those Twitters are real. Thanks again to my friends in the Frostiron server for cameo-ing!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, I've been slow to update. I'm working on it!!!
> 
> Thanks to psychiccatpanda/Faustess for looking this one over!

Tony all but jumped for joy as he left the science building. It had been a long-ass week, but exams were finally over. Winter break was here, and he could finally…

Okay, so going home wasn’t the best part of winter break. Howard Stark wasn’t exactly the epitome of the Christmas spirit, and Tony was usually bored to tears at home. Seeing Jarvis and Mrs. J was nice, and Aunt Peg always came for a couple of days.

But really, the only comfort of winter break was that he and Loki could spend just as much time together as they could in school—more, even. Odin wasn’t a paragon of holiday cheer either, but Loki’s mother, Frigga, absolutely was. Tony had been spending hours and even days of winter break on end at the Andersens’ house for years. Frigga always seemed to have hot chocolate on hand, and of course Tony always loved spending time with Loki.

He checked his phone and saw that Pepper had sent him and Loki a text. Apparently,  _ Reindeer Games  _ had had a sudden spike in downloads and she was working on figuring out the reason.

**[[Frostiron]]**

**Loki:** **  
** I don’t remember anything in particular.   
Maybe one of our tweets made the rounds?

**Pepper:** **  
** That was my first guess, but I’m checking the stats and nothing seems odd.   
I’m still looking, though.   
If I come up with nothing I’ll ask Nat to check with her cousins.

I was gonna suggest the same thing.   
Are you guys done with exams?

**Pepper:** **  
** I have one more tomorrow.

**Loki:** **  
** I have one at 3:00 today and then I’m done.

Haha, I’m already done with mine :P

**Loki:** **  
** Lucky asshole

When are you heading home, Lokes?

**Loki:** **  
** Depends on when my brother can pick me up. Hopefully tonight.

Fuck that. There’s plenty of room in my car.

**Loki:** **  
** Are you sure, Tony?

Yeah ofc, I know your brother isn’t always the best at that kind of shit

**Loki:** **  
** Definitely not.   
I’ll let you know when I’m out of my exam

Pepper, how are you getting home?

**Pepper:** **  
** I fly out tomorrow.   
California, remember?

Oh right.   
Well, we’ll be sure to bitch to you when it’s ass-cold over here

**Pepper:** **  
**I look forward to it.  
Hey, before you guys head out:  
I’ll leave you alone over the break, but please don’t do anything stupid that I’ll have to cover you for.  
After we get back, we need to start work on the summer album almost immediately.

Yes ma’am

**Pepper:** **  
** If you really want to make me happy, you could start working on the album now

Well, in that case, we just might have to get started   
Will that be all, Ms. Potts?

**Pepper:** **  
** That will be all, Mr. Stark.

~~~~

“Ohhhhhh, the weather outside is frightful—”

“Tony, you’re going to break my eardrums—”

“—but the fiiiiire is sooo delightful—”

“I know you can sing better than this—”

“And since we’ve no place to go—”

_ “Tony!” _

“LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW!”

“Good grief,” Loki muttered as Tony burst into peals of laughter. “I know you have a fondness for Christmas music, but must you sound like a cat being hit with a frying pan?”

“Aw, Lokes, lighten up,” Tony teased. “You don’t like listening to the sounds of the season?”

“Well, I don’t know if I do or don’t,” said Loki. “Perhaps if you didn’t sing so loudly and so horrendously over the music, I could form an opinion.”

Tony laughed. “Okay, okay, fair enough.”

To Loki’s surprise, Tony actually listened and didn’t belt the next song. It took them a little longer than usual to get to Loki’s house—goddamn icy roads—and by the time they arrived, it was almost completely dark.

“You told your brother I was bringing you home, right?” Tony asked.

Loki nodded. “Yes, but thanks for checking.”

“Need help bringing anything in?”

“That would be great, actually.”

They exited the car and walked around to grab Loki’s things from the back. Before Loki could get out his key to unlock the front door, it swung open to reveal Frigga.

“Loki!” she exclaimed. She hugged Loki close to her. “I didn’t realize you were coming home today.”

“Tony offered me a ride,” Loki explained.

“Oh, Tony, that was so kind of you,” said Frigga, giving Tony a hug once she and Loki had broken apart. “Would you like to come in? I was about to get dinner started and I can squeeze in one more.”

Tony shook his head. “I should probably head home. I think my aunt might be coming this evening.”

“Well, you’re certainly welcome here if she isn’t,” said Frigga. “Jane is coming over as well, and I’m sure she’d be happy to see you both.”

Tony smiled. “I’ll keep it in mind.”

~~~~

Apparently, Tony’s aunt wasn’t planning on coming over until the next day, so Tony was able to stay at the Andersens’ for dinner. Loki was naturally thrilled, and even Odin seemed pleasantly neutral about the whole thing.

“So, Tony, how have you been?” Frigga asked once they were all settled and eating. “Is school treating you alright?”

“Well, I’m finally starting to realize that double majoring  _ maybe  _ wasn’t the best idea…”

“Oh, you think?” Loki rolled his eyes. “I don’t think three days go by without him  _ lamenting _ over how  _ hard _ his courses are.”

“What are you majoring in again?” Jane asked.

“Computer science and engineering,” Tony replied. “I could drop one of them and just have it be a minor, but I don’t think that would go over too well at home.”

“Well, it’ll pay off for you in the end,” said Odin. “Those are two very useful degrees to have.” He shot a pointed look at Loki. Loki stared down at his plate.

Tony had to keep himself from glaring at Odin, instead staring at him flatly. “I wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t love it,” he said,  _ just  _ enunciating each word as he laid a hand on Loki’s lap. “There’s no point in wasting four years of time and money to get a degree in something you hate.” He turned his gaze to the seat across from him. “Thor, what about you? You’re finally a school psychologist, yeah?”

“I am!” Thor beamed. “I’m halfway through my first year, and it’s going wonderfully.”

“Is it the same school you interned at?” Loki asked. “The middle school?”

“Yes, the same one. By sheer coincidence, their school psychologist retired at the end of last year, and apparently, she personally recommended that I replace her. Oh, and that reminds me—” Thor turned to Odin. “I have a young lady on my basketball team who is very interested in politics. I thought perhaps she could come to visit your office?”

“How old is she?” Odin asked.

“Eleven,” Thor replied, “but she’s very knowledgeable.”

Odin shook his head. “We don’t have children that young come in.” He went back to eating.

“Basketball team?” Tony asked. “Are you a coach now?”

“A few of the local middle schools have started a co-ed basketball league for the sixth graders,” Thor explained. “Another teacher and I are coaching our school’s team.”

“That’s cool,” said Tony. “I tried to play basketball when I was a kid. Couldn’t get the hang of it.”

Loki poked Tony’s side. “Could be because you’re tiny.”

Tony scowled. “You don’t need to rub it in.”

“Mmm, I think I do.” Loki grinned, and Tony could feel himself melting. Damn him.

“Anyway, what have you been up to, Jane?” he asked, trying to change the subject before he could do that dumb blushing shit.

“I’m looking into Ph.D. programs,” Jane replied.

Tony whistled. “Damn. In what?”

“Astrophysics.”

“Yeah, okay.” Tony raised his hands as if in surrender. “That’s it; we can all go home. Jane wins the ‘most impressive’ award.”

“Hey, hang on.” Jane shook her head and flicked her index finger from Tony to Loki and back. “You two just released two EPs in a row, right?”

Tony could  _ hear  _ the light in Loki’s eyes as he nodded eagerly and replied, “We released one at the start of the semester and another just a few days ago.”

“That’s amazing!” Jane said brightly. “That’s so much work that you two are doing on top of being full-time students, and your music is always so good. Don’t downplay that.”

Tony turned to see that Loki was looking at him, except that wasn’t the look Loki usually gave him when talking about their music, especially when talking about  _ Reindeer Games. _ It wasn’t his trademark triumphant borderline smirk; rather, this was something softer, maybe even tender, and Tony couldn’t bring himself to smirk the way  _ he  _ usually did.

So they shared a smile, holding it quietly for one another, and then Frigga asked if they wanted dessert and the moment was over.

~~~~

As usual, the Stark mansion was silent and mostly dark when Tony walked in. His father was all the way upstairs in his study, and Jarvis and Mrs. J were probably in their residence downstairs for the night. If he wanted, he could call for Jarvis to help him with his suitcase and other things, but that felt shitty. They both would have so much to do over the holiday…

So he tugged his luggage to the second floor, piece by piece, and laid it all against the wall in his bedroom, not bothering to turn on the light until everything was upstairs.

Not bothering to unpack—he could do that tomorrow—he flopped down onto his bed, staring at the walls he’d covered with posters over the years.

He missed Loki.

There was a knock at his door, and then Jarvis’s voice on the other side. “Tony?”

“Come in,” he called back. The door opened and Jarvis walked in.

“I didn’t realize you’d arrived,” said Jarvis, striding across the room to give Tony a hug. Tony smiled and hugged him back. He gestured towards the luggage. “Why didn’t you call for me?”

“Didn’t need your help,” Tony replied. “Figured you and Mrs. J were in for the night.”

Jarvis smiled and gave Tony’s shoulder a squeeze. “That’s very thoughtful of you, but I would have been happy to help.”

“I know,” said Tony. “You always are.”

“You seem sad,” Jarvis noted. “What’s wrong?”

Tony shrugged. “Eh. The usual. You know I don’t like being home much—except for seeing you.”

“Well, Ms. Carter will be here tomorrow afternoon,” said Jarvis, smiling at Tony in what they both knew was a futile attempt to make him feel better.

They both knew that the mansion’s walls held little in the way of joy and that neither Tony nor Jarvis nor anyone else could change that for longer than a few fleeting moments.

Jarvis stood up. “Get some rest, Tony. Ana will be happy that you’re home.”

“Happy enough to make me pancakes?” Tony asked, cracking a smile.

“Of course.” Jarvis bowed—it was a joke at this point; Tony had told him to stop doing that when he was thirteen and Jarvis had only bowed him more—and left, closing the door behind him.

Fifteen minutes later phone buzzed on his nightstand.

**[[Howard Stark]]**

Jarvis said you’re home.

Yeah, I got here about an hour ago.

You were at the Andersens?

Yeah. Frigga invited me.   
Odin says hi.

Peggy will be here at 2 PM tomorrow.   
I’ll see you then.

Ok. Goodnight.

 

Tony sighed and went into his bathroom to take a shower. There used to be a time where he’d think that someday, he and his father would have some semblance of a relationship, that he might feel the same love from Howard that he did from Jarvis and Mrs. J.

And then he turned ten, and after a decade of living, he had learned to give up.

It had been easier when his mom was still alive. Maria Stark had been as warm and nurturing as Howard was cold and neglectful. She—and suddenly Tony felt tears and he forced himself to stop thinking about it. Crying in this house… no. Just no.

The water was hot against his skin, hot enough to distract him. He finished quickly, dried off, and got into bed with the silent efficiency and rigidity of a soldier.

He missed Loki.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAA! I keep disappearing for long stretches. It's because I try to stay ahead of myself, and I've been super busy. But here's chapter 7!

_ December 20th, 2019 - 9:37 AM _

Loki had always loved snow.

Something about the morning light, the pale silvery sky, the shimmering blanket of powdered diamonds across the ground, was enchanting. Captivating. Beautiful.

**[[Tony]]**

Morning, Elsa! Have you looked out your window?   
It’s gorgeous out there!

Yes, I just woke up. It’s beautiful.

 

It made it hard for him to challenge Tony when he called him Elsa.

He took his time getting out of bed, knowing that his family wouldn’t be around. His father had a fundraiser upstate that weekend, so he and his mom would have already left, and Thor still had work, poor thing. Well, at least it was his last day.

**[[Tony]]**

Want to start tooling around with the new album today?   
It would make Pepper’s vacation

Today’s a good day, actually.   
My parents are out of town for the weekend

Oh, right, your dad has that shitty fundraiser   
Dad has Board meetings all day and Aunt Peg just left   
She’s spending Christmas in the UK this year :(

I can talk to Mom. Maybe you can spend Christmas here

She’s a saint if I can.   
But anyway, your basement or mine?

Well, that depends, Tony   
Do you want to build a snowman?

That’s just not fair, Lokes   
I can’t call you Elsa, but you can do THAT?!

:)

Alright, I’ll come over there then   
Is an hour from now ok?

That’s fine. If you get lunch delivered, I’ll make dinner   
Oh, and Thor may come home this evening   
Haven’t the faintest idea why

That’s fine, I can leave before he does   
Wait, no, that’s a “please don’t leave until Thor goes to bed”

Precisely.

You got it. Okay, see you in an hour!

Great

~~~~

“Okay, okay, we seriously need to start working on the album.”

Tony had arrived just before eleven, and they’d spent a solid hour and a half quite literally playing in the snow like children. Loki could still feel snow in his eyes from when Tony had thrown a snowball in his face, and Tony’s hair was absolutely covered in crystals from when Loki had dropped one on his head.

“Aww,” Tony whined, smoothing out the top of what was clearly an attempt at a snowman but was, in reality, a misshapen blob. He drew a face on the blob with his gloved index finger. “We can’t stay any longer?”

Loki rolled his eyes. “Come on, Tony. I’m starving, and you promised me pizza.”

“Oh, fine,” Tony sighed. “It’s been great, Keith.”

“Keith?”

“My snowman.”

“You mean your pile of snow with a face on it.”

“He’s a snowman!” Tony protested. “He’s a snowman, and his name is Keith.”

“Sure, Tony.” Loki shook his head in barely-disbelief and led his friend to the front door.

~~~~

_ 2 PM _

“Hey, let’s call Pepper,” Tony suggested when they  _ finally  _ made their way to the basement to begin work on the album. “See how she’s doing in Cali. And tell her that we’re working on the album.”

Loki’s eyes flitted away as he tried not to clench his teeth. “Or we could wait until we actually have made some progress,” he replied flatly.

Tony nodded, clearly not noticing Loki’s expression. “That’s a better idea. Okay, let’s get to work.”

Loki picked up his tablet and turned it on. “We said we would take a look at some of the pieces that we haven’t released, right?”

“Yeah. I think we have about four or five of those.” Tony opened up the pocket he’d installed onto the front of his guitar case and pulled out his own tablet. “If we record those and then write four or five more, we can have an album for the summer.”

“Well, let’s have a look at those older pieces first,” Loki proposed. “Do a run-through of a few and see if any need revising.”

“I’m okay with that, but let’s only do one to start.” Tony looked up at Loki and gave a teasing smile. “Knowing us, we’re going to find things we want to revise in whichever one we pick up first, and we’re going to spend all day reworking it.”

“Yeah, you’re not wrong.” Loki paused for a few moments, thinking. “Hey, what about our scraps folder?”

Tony tilted his head to the side. “What about it?”

“We have a bunch of half-finished pieces in our scraps folder. Some of these are two or three years old. I bet we could rework and finish some of them as well.” Loki’s finger raced over the screen as he scrolled through the folder. “Yeah, there’s a ton of material in here. Between these and the unreleased pieces, we might only have to do one or two completely from scratch, if any.”

“You think we can revive our scraps?” Tony asked. “We’ve never done that before.”

“It’s worth a shot,” said Loki. “I remember starting some of these, and they had potential.”

Tony nodded. “Okay—oooh, I have an idea.”

“What is it?” Loki looked over to see that Tony’s eyes were sparkling even more brightly than the snow outside.

“What if we pick a scrap, play it through, and then we just improvise after that? We’ve written songs like that before.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Loki mused. “One of us should record it though, just on our phone or something.”

“I can do that,” said Tony. “So, start a scrapped piece and improvise it until it stops sounding good?”

“Perfect.” Loki sat down at his piano and played a few scales to warm up. “Let’s go.”

~~~~

“Okay, let’s stop for now.” Tony put down his guitar and walked over to Loki’s side. “We’ve made some good progress, but it’s nearly 5:30. Has Thor texted you?”

Loki checked his phone. “Oh—yeah, he said he’ll be home… any minute now, actually.”

Indeed, a few moments later, they could hear the sound of the door opening upstairs and Thor’s voice calling Loki’s name.

“Let’s head upstairs,” said Loki. “Thor isn’t so bad to be around when our parents aren’t home.”

Curiously, Thor wasn’t his typical over-exuberant self upon seeing Tony. “It’s not that you’re unwelcome—you always are—but I had something I wished to speak with Loki about in private,” he explained.

“I can go back downstairs for a bit,” Tony offered. “I wanted to update Pepper on our progress anyway.”

“Is there a problem?” Loki asked.

Thor shook his head. “Not at all. I just wanted to talk with you without our parents around.”

“Okay…” Loki bit his lip. “Will this take long?”

“Loki, you have nothing to worry about,” Thor said gently. “I just wanted to ask your advice about something.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“I’ll head back downstairs.” Tony lightly squeezed Loki’s shoulder. “Text me when you’re done, okay? I can help you out with dinner.”

Loki nodded and watched as Tony disappeared down the staircase. He turned to Thor. “Okay, what is it?”

“I was thinking about proposing to Jane.” Thor sat down on the couch and folded his hands in his lap. “We’ve been together for many years, and it feels like it’s time.”

“That’s wonderful,” said Loki. “But you wanted my advice?”

Thor nodded. “I wanted to talk with you about it first because if I told our parents first, they would overreact to it.”

Loki laughed. “That’s definitely true.”

“Do you think I should?” Thor asked.

“I don’t see why not,” Loki replied. “You clearly love each other very much. I can’t imagine she would say no.”

Thor smiled. “I’m glad you approve, Loki.”

“Of course I do.” Loki propped his feet on the coffee table and wiggled his toes, knowing their parents would throw a fit if they saw him. “Do you have a plan as to when?”

“I still have to find a ring,” said Thor, “but I’ve been looking, and if I find one in time I’d like to do it over the holiday.” He looked at Loki’s toes for a moment, and then back up at Loki. “Who am I kidding; I know nothing about rings.”

“You could ask Mom,” Loki suggested. “She and Jane are quite close—or at least, they were last I checked.”

“They still are,” said Thor. “Closer than ever, I think…” He paused for a moment. “You have a lot of little trinkets. Which one is your favorite?”

Loki rolled his eyes. “An engagement ring is a little more than just a  _ trinket,  _ Thor. But it’s a fair question.” He lifted his right wrist and pointed to it. “This, right here.”

Thor leaned forward. “Is that a friendship bracelet?”

“A very old one, yes,” Loki replied. “Tony gave this to me when we were about nine or ten. I forget how he obtained the materials, but he had a phase where he made them constantly. He reached the point where he could make three or four in a day.”

“Howard couldn’t have liked that too much,” Thor mused.

Loki chuckled. “Howard would have reviled the notion, which is why I don’t think he knew. But anyway, Tony made me this one, and I think something had happened to him that day because when he tied it around my wrist, he said he would never stop being my friend unless I cut the bracelet off. And there was this  _ look _ in his eyes, and I remember it perfectly but I have no idea what it was.”

“Why haven’t you asked him?” Thor asked. “You’ve always told each other everything.”

“Usually we do, but when Tony doesn’t tell me something right away, I don’t press him for it,” Loki explained, twisting the bracelet around and around his wrist. “There are things about him I know he won’t tell me, but we trust each other enough to know that we can have lives outside of each other. What matters is that he stayed true to his word. It’s been over a decade since he gave me this bracelet, and he’s never left me, nor have I ever thought about leaving him.”

Thor smiled softly. “The two of you are very lucky,” he said. “I’ve watched you and Tony over the last fifteen years, and it seems nothing can separate you. It’s rare to find a friend like that.”

“I know.” Loki stared wistfully at the hallway down which Tony had disappeared for just a split second before turning his attention back to Thor. “When you choose your ring for Jane, ignore the sales clerk. They just want you to spend money. Choose something that will remind her of why she wants to marry you. Something that only you and she will understand.”

“Thank you, Loki,” Thor said quietly. “I wish I had spent more time with you when we were growing up. Even back then, you were always wise beyond your years—far more so than I.”

“Is that all I am, then?” Loki teased. “A fountain of wisdom?”

“That, and an excellent impersonator of Ariana Grande.”

At that, Loki couldn’t help but laugh. “I could do worse. Oh, but you missed one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“An excellent cook. Now go get Tony; he promised to help me with dinner.”

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Tumblr @hyperchaoticstarlight, marvel-at-these-gays, and tinytonys.
> 
> DM me @marvel-at-these-gays if you're interested in the Frostiron server, the Tony rarepair server, or the Science Bros server, and I'll get you an invite link.
> 
> Please leave a comment; they fuel my writing!


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